The "Peter Ellis" Astro Sponsors

Burton Mens 1sts weekend kicked off with a top of the table clash against Chesterfield, their most important game of the season. With Burton chasing for promotion it was important to take points off teams above them. Then on Sunday Burton travelled to Coventry and sought revenge for the late cancellation a few weeks ago

The Chesterfield game started at a frantic pace with a strong challenges in the first minutes, Chesterfield squandering an early chance due to an important double save by Mitchell Blakemore. The game persisted in its scrappy pace throughout the first half and Burton went into half time 0-0 with not that much decent hockey being played. The second half the game started to open up with Burton looking dangerous on the counter. Chesterfield were first to score in the game, converting from a short corner routine slickly in the bottom corner. After conceding Burton began to play some good hockey. Andrew Locker looked dangerous on the right hand side and won multiple shorts and free hits. Burton's persistence paid off as Mark Northcott converted from a short corner in classic style off the post man. Burton then again broke into the D and the keeper was deemed to sweep the ball behind the goal deliberately, Mark Northcott again stepped up and despatched his flick bottom left.

With the lead Burton began to drop deeper and step back. This allowed Chesterfield to push on, Burton were then down to 10 but defended resiliently and with minutes to go held the ball up in the corner. With seconds to go Burton lost the ball in the middle of the pitch and were countered. The ball ended up back post with the Chesterfield man with an open goal and was flicked into Luke Pelech. The umpire initially giving a 16 hit to Burton, then after consultation they awarded a Penalty flick to Chesterfield which they converted.

the game finished 2-2. Burton were unlucky not to secure the three points. This meant the push for promotion carried on, into Sunday.

For the Sunday fixture Burton were missing a few key players, with the absence of Ed Clamp, Harry Cains stepped into the key centreback role. Burton looked sloppy to start with, misplaced passes were the theme of the first 10 minutes and Burton were very poor. Coventry and North Warwickshire made Burton pay scoring 2 early goals. What looked a relatively simple fixture was turning out to be the opposite.

Burton then began to get their act together and starting to pass the ball and began to score some goals. Liam Goode broke into the D and smashed the ball home low past the keeper. Burton then persisted and Dan Tyler on his debut flicked the ball past the goalkeeper. Jamie Cooper also got in on the action and converted two short corners successfully with drag flicks. Jamie Jenkins also scored in the first half and Burton went into half time 5-2 up having seemed to have their heads together.

After another surging run a Coventry player ran through the middle of the pitch and won a short for the team. Converting the short corner they looked back in the game. Burton then quickly went down the other end and Ben Elson mishit the ball but it went into the goal, 6-3 up Burton then coasted and again ceased to play hockey they have been playing all season. Two bizarre goals followed and Coventry were back in the game with 5 minutes to go. The game eventually ran out as Burton scraped a 6-5 win with a mediocre performance.

Harry Cains got man of the match with an impressive performance in defence. All together 4 points from the weekend was good for Burton. It was important to keep the pressure up on teams above them and win their game in hand. With 4 games left in the season and Burton playing 2 teams above them it will be close at the top of midlands 2.

Burton men’s 2nds hosted Stourport at the Ellis and expected a tough game after losing 5-1 in the away fixture earlier in the season.From the first whistle Burton pressed high and went a goal up within the first 5 minutes, the goal scored with a powerful flick in the far corner from Dougie Henderson. Stourport came straight back at Burton and soon equalised with a fantastic open play goal from the Stourport ex international David Knott. The game was end to end with both sides making numerous unforced errors. Halftime came with the score at 1-1. The 2nd half started with Stourport attacking and only a number of short corner saves from Jack Smith in goals kept Burton in the game. Finally the deadlock was broken from another Stourport short corner, the straight strike was deflected off the keeper leaving Kieran Whetton no chance on the line. Burtons heads did not drop and within a few minutes won a short corner at the other end, from this Ben Elson made no mistake with a powerful dragflick just inside the upright. As the game moved on it looked like a draw was likely but in the dying seconds a ball from defence found Burton 3 on 2 against the Stourport defence, styles found Jamie Boast with the first pass who in turn drew out the keeper for Ben Elson to calmly finish.The final whistle went with Burton the victors 3-2.

Burton Mens 3s played top of league Harborne who early in the season had beaten them 10 0 but Burton did only have 9 players that day, Harborne must of thought it was going to be the same again after scoring what ended up being the winning goal after 5 minutes. Burton dug in with all 11 players doing there bit . Russell Jurgen Davenport was showing his inner Maddie Hinch and with James CraneGeorge ScottStephen Goodfellow and Owen Walters all putting in a strong performance . Burton did also countered really well thought Simon SaccaggiBen Meir and Tom Gibbs and a different day and bit more luck in front of goal Burton may of come away with a shock win . Pete GibbsRobert Pilgrim and Jacob Davies also all played there part . If the 3s can play anywhere near to this level again this season they will get some results that could move them up the League.

Burton 4s were too strong for Loughborough 6s winning 5 1. Half term lack of players saw the 5s default. While the 6s played Barton in an inter league game going down 2 1 with Jason King getting the goal.

Burton Ladies 1s suffered their first defeat of the season against local rivals Derby but still sit safe at the top of the league. A very tactical Derby side started with a kicking back, overloading with 11 outfield players and making it difficult for Burton to execute theirr usual ‘quick start’. Instead it was Derby that took the lead 1-0 in the first half. After 10 minutes their keeper took her post but the damage had been done and Burton were on the back foot. After half time Burton picked up the pace and played some lovely, fast passing hockey. This portion of play ended in an equaliser from Abi Lester. A fast break from Derby resulted in a short corner that hit a Burton defender on the line and Erin Franklin lined up to defend a penalty flick. this was well executed by the Derby forward and took the score to 2-1. Still pushing and working hard, Burton won a short corner on the final whistle but failed to convert. A disappointing result but still in a strong position for the remainder of the season Man of the match to Megan Ridley for the second week running

Burton Ladies 1s ended on a high from the weekend, regaining their 8 point lead at the top of the table after beating 2nd place Ashbourne 2-1. Early in the first half, a misplaced pass left an Ashbourne forward with the ball in the D and a very well placed push into the bottom corner beat an outstretched Erin Franklin. The score remained at 1-0 for the half despite many opportunities on goal from Burton and failing to convert a number of short corners. They came out fast in the second half building play well. A goal finally came from Burton when a build up of 5 passes, starting from a 16 yard hit, found Nicola Taylor on the penalty spot for a clean finish. At 1-1 they continued to push for a second goal, gaining more short corners and finally converting one after a routine was broken down and a rebound of the keeper was picked up by Lucy Pendleton to push it home for Burton to take the lead! Man of the match went to Leigh Alexandra for her solid tackling and out-skilling most of their forwards,

Burton ladies 2's had the late game against Derby 3's. Burton were off to a quick start, converting passes into a goal within the first minute of the game. Derby soon settled into the game, having 10 minutes of attack, with burton making some crucial saves. Burton continued to make many attacks, but were unable to convert them into goals, so the first half finished 1-0.

In the second half Burton continued the flow from the first half, putting pressure on Derby. This was soon shown with a quick attack, which was converted into a second goal. Derby kept adding pressure but couldn't get a shot on goal. In the last few minutes of the game, Burton secured the win by scoring a third. Goals were scored by Shannon Dillon, Felicity Norcross and Hannah Tjon Soei Len. Man of the match this week was joint between Susie Spruce and Hattie Barnes for their effort throughout the game.

Burton Ladies 3s hosted staveley this morning with a 13 man strong squad. Staveley started quickly with Burton conceding 2 short corners within the first 5 minutes. The back line held on and fought hard but their first goal inevitably came with a quality stroke from the top of the D inside 15 minutes. Several more goals came before half time. Down to 12 burton they bucked up their ideas and we were able to make a few strong attacks but couldn’t get around the staveley keeper.A few more staveley goals were netted, in between burton were given a few opportunities from short corners but were unable to convert. Going down to 11 due to injury burton soldiered on, with everyone sighing a sigh of relief at the final whistle. Final score 11-0.

Burton Ladies 4th team played on home soil, taking on Matlock 5ths, on a chilly Saturday morning. Matlock were quick to attack and first to get on the score sheet. Their lead was shortlived however as our on form Goal scorer Izzy Ridley notched one for Burton after a speedy counter attack from a smooth long range pass. Now 1-1, each side were settling into the game with both teams having a few chances and positive build up play. With the first half drawing to a close, Matlock managed a second goal, an aerial shot just passed our kicking back. Despite some better play in the second half Burton were unable to find an equaliser. Burton were pleased to hold off more attacking play from Matlock with Monica El-Khanagry and Zoe Ridley putting on good defensive play with some great saves on the goal line from kicking back . Special thanks to Matlock for kindly agreeing to play a kicking back so it was an equal playing field